Well, yesterday's interview seemed to go well. Only problem is that it would require a lengthy commute via car, since I am not about to move. Since my current ride is a 10 year old econobox with a stick and very little in the way of comfort, I may well be "trading up" to my wife's current car and shopping for a minivan for her. I don't know what's worse for my ego: riding around in what I found out is apparently the choice of lesbian moms everywhere (subaru wagon) or buying a (shudder) minivan. Even so, lifting the kiddo into the carseat in the back of the wagon is becoming enough of a backbreaker that it will be a relief when we finally crack and buy the van.

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riding around in what I found out is apparently the choice of lesbian moms everywhere (subaru wagon)

Hey, that's my car! I have a '04 Forester XT.... I would highly reccomend it; 0-60 in 5.3 is sweet. The new body style ('03+) seems to draw fewer rainbow stickers than the previous models for some reason.

I always swore that I would never drive a minivan. I could not believe it when one of my wildest and most fun friends traded in her Vette for a minivan. I was appalled.

However, we broke down and bought a used minivan when my second child was born. I never thought I'd say it, but I really do love my van. So does my husband. It may not be the coolest thing in the world, but really, who are we trying to compete with at this point? All of our friends drive minivans or similar vehicles, and nobody is looking too cool. Getting a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old out of their seats is so much easier with the van. Now that we're thinking about having a 3rd child, I'm even happier we got it.

The van falls into the very large category of things I said I'd never do and ended up doing anyway. Fortunately, this action is one I don't regret taking.

Honda and Toyota Minivans swap #1 and #2 spots in all the ratings I've seen.

So far our expedition is working well for baby portage, but our little toyota Rav4 is also a very capable vehicle without that 'minivan' connotation.

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Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.

The smiley is most appropriate but buying one would be a bad joke for Brewer.

I would not recommend the Caravan/Voyager. *Both my mum and my kid sister have one and those vehicles have been lots of trouble. *Particularly troubling if you are in an area of the country with salt on the roads (as I understand Brewer is) is that the strut towers have a tendency to rust out in a short number of years. *It appears that the design of the towers catches and holds road salt and the metal there is not quite as thick as it should be leading to early failure due to rusting. *Search the web - it's a well known problem. *Just one example of the many many problems with this vehicle. *My sister has had more trouble than my mum but that's cause hers is a few years older.

I think the truly endearing part about the caravan is the whole range of model years that would pop their rear door open and eject the rear seat during a rear end collision. Call me crazy, but I like to keep my kids IN the car when a truck is slamming into it from behind. :-/

I bought a chrysler product about 10 years ago. Took it back under the lemon law a few months later. That was good enough.

I did drive a caravan as a rental when I had to haul a bunch of people from the airport to a meeting. It wasnt too bad.

Letting real owners speak for themselves, the following are approximate #'s of current owners who would buy the same minivan again:

Although again, if I was buying today I'd look at the Rav4 and CRV if I wanted a small 4 cyl model with good versatility, or the Honda Pilot if I wanted something a little bigger and with a bit more power. I think dollar for dollar the Pilot is one of the best carlike medium size SUV's on the market. The Rav4 for example holds 5 people, four big ones pretty comfortably and gets 26+mpg. Both rear seats come out completely for dogs and hauling; I moved a full sized washer and dryer in ours last summer.

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Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.

Well, what about full size van? I have a 1985 VW Westfalia. We love the camper kit but what I notice owning it is that it is really full size.
Aside from the camper aspect it carries people and stuff. It gets decent fuel mileage. Since the VW water cooled engine was not very reliable I had it replaced with a Subaru engine. So Maybe I have a full size Subaru camper van.

We love our Toyota Highlander. It's only a 4 cylinder, but it has more than adequate power. It gets very good gas milage and is very comfortable. In the past we owned a 96 Town and Country minivan that was always in the shop. Looked at the Honda Pilot and almost bought it instead of the Highlander. What changed our minds was the very uncomfortable middle back seat. It is as hard as a rock!! It has a tray that can be pulled down if 2 people are in the back seat, but if 3 are back there the middle seat is torture!

Definitely agree on NOT buying a Caravan or any of its sisters. We still have a 91 Caravan ES loaded with quad seating, etc. but it went through about 10-15 recalls in first 5 years. My wife is fond of saying it is a 91-96 model - take your pick.

It's now starting to cost real money to keep going, but better than depreciation on something newer. We want to keep it going until we re-patriate to Canada in a year or so, with the idea I'll simply hand the keys to the junk dealer on the way out of town.

Brewer, I never thought I'd ever own a minivan either but once we had it, it was mostly like driving a car, with fuel efficiency close to a car, and not the weight or gas guzzling of a truck/SUV chassis. I've enjoyed driving it, it has been great to throw stuff in for the weekend, and it gets my wife and her stuff to and from the grocery store and art class very nicely. Probably the most useful vehicle we have ever owned and probably will ever own.

I don't know what's worse for my ego: riding around in what I found out is apparently the choice of lesbian moms everywhere (subaru wagon)

There's an idiodic stereotype if i've ever seen one.

Subaru wagons have AWD, very nice powerful engines (boxer turbos), super ground clearence, and great cargo capacity (like all wagons). When i see someone in a Subaru; intelligence, indepenence, fun, and practicality are thoughts that pop in my mind about the driver.

We looked at both the Honda and Toyota products back in 2000 and ended up buying the Odyssey LX. At the time the Honda edged out Toyota in safety by a smidgen, seemed to have more interior room, and had more "configurability". We're still glad we bought it and would recommend a good hard look at the 2005 version, which has more horsepower, a better fold-down rear seat, and some other niceties I forget.

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